3.31.2010

Boundaries, Definitions, Intersections...

 Leila and Hana

Over the weekend I watched a movie that pushed the boundaries of erotica, pornography, and definition titled, 9 SongsIt is a short movie about a young couple in England and their sex life through their relationship and over the course of 9 songs.   Both the sex scenes and the icy Antarctic landscape are beautifully filmed.

The scenes grow increasingly erotic, graphic, and by one point shows full penetration and male ejaculation.  Is it pornographic, hardcore, erotica, art?  Can it be all of these?  Can art be pornographic or pornography be art?

This is not the first time these questions have been asked. Bob Guccione's Caligula and John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus pushed these same issues to the question.  Can graphic, actual sex captured through various media rise up to be art? 

Dr. L recently wrote in her blog:
Anyone who has watched porn films, even classics like "Behind the Green Door," will notice the complete lack of authentic emotion. So, for me, high emotion vs. the lack of convincing emotion separates erotica from pornography.
The balancing act, the success or failure to stop just short of going too far, determines whether it is erotica or pornography.
In a comment to her post, I wrote:
That goes back to the classic line that I am going to poorly paraphrase, "I can't define what pornography is, but I know it when I see it." I think this boundary between erotica and pornography varies from person to person and between cultures.

I like your concept of needing real emotion between the people in the photo/video to help make it erotica. I hadn't thought of that, but I think that hits the nail on the head.

When I saw Mr. and Mrs. Smith, staring the ever sexy Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, I could tell there was a real passion between them. Even though it was a tongue-in-cheek movie, their emotions and desire for each other made it white-hot for me. It was real.

After seeing 9 Songs, I've decided that it is (for me) pornography, erotica and it maybe even has artistic merit.  The characters have a complex, caring relationship and their sex is not the usual cliche crap you find in standard commercial porn.  It feels like you are watching two people connect physically and emotionally. 

For me it is the intent of the piece that makes it erotic, pornographic, artistic or all of these and more.  If the creator's intent is to go beyond just shock, awe, and titillation, and to try to put an artistic statement on it, then it is difficult to dismiss as just porn.  I don't see all pornography as being without merit or purposes other than  masturbatory eye candy.  It can be art and erotica.

Since seeing my first Playboys, Penthouses and occasional Hustlers, through the porn videos of the 90's and the boom of porn on the internet, I've seen lots of porn.  During all those experiences, I've seen some pornography that I feel is art.  I believe some of the images I captured of Leila and Hana are pornographic.  I also consider them artistic and erotic.  One of the reasons I feel they are more than porn was my, and their, intent.  I wanted to capture graphic moments that when seen together in a series shows not only the tender and caring relationship of these two women, but also the intense physical way they celebrated it.

Some believe, including me, that subtlety and leaving things to the imagination can be more erotic than explicit depictions.  I also believe  sometimes we need to see the "whole monty."  This is true whether it is sex, war, poverty, domestic violence, and other real life issues.  If we did not see the bodies of victims killed in the name civil rights, fascism, communism, genocide, crime, drugs and other atrocities, we would not have been moved to act.  The same goes for poverty and other tough topics.  They pushed our comfort and made us think of how to react.

All of this makes me believe that what most, including myself, consider pornography can also be acceptable art and important to be created. Is sex that taboo and should we only be limited to accepting violent graphic imagery as art?

3.28.2010

Is it Jealousy, Envy, Betrayal, or a Feeling of Failure?

 Sunset on Mt. Diablo

Short post today.  I saw a few photos of a model I had worked with taken by another photographer.  I've seen other photographers' images of all the models I've been honored to work with.  Many are truly amazing works and I feel good putting my photos beside theirs'.  I like seeing how other photographers captured their beauty and art.  This time though it is not sitting well with me.

When I first saw these photos I felt a slap on the face of my artistic machismo cheek and another back on the artistic aesthetic cheek.   I was speechless at the sting of these images.  They were of the type I wanted to create deep down in my soul with her, but did not.  Why didn't I get these?

I can be envious, but rarely overly jealous.  This felt different.  I felt jealous of their output.  I felt betrayed by the model that she didn't share she was willing to experiment in this direction.  I felt they stole my idea and desire for creating these images and anger that their work turned out so damned good.  Finally, I hit a moment of realization at where the true problem stemmed from, me.

I felt a sense of failure and cowardice for not asking her if she would do this.  I know that models have different levels of comfort with different photographers and she may have not felt comfortable doing this type of work with me.  By my lack of not asking and sharing my vision and just communicating better, I will never know if I could have created that session instead of seeing some other photographer's painful creations.

3.27.2010

Nudophobia - another story

 The Quiet Times

I read an interesting article over at What We Saw Today about the conservative fear of nude art aptly named by Dr. L as "nudophobia."   It made me think of my own experiences exhibiting nude photos.


As I've mentioned in past articles, I had a business.  It was half high-end hair salon and half art gallery.  I was in charge of the art gallery, one of my partners who was a stylist managed the salon, and her boyfriend/other partner managed the business end.

Every month we would switch out the art and have an artist's reception.  In February, we decided to have a mixed media show (paintings, sculptures, glass work and photos) of nudes to coincide with Valentine's day.  None were explicit, some were erotic and all were good art.
I posted three of my nudes and sold one and traded one.  A number of the other artists sold pieces as well.  It was the second best money making exhibit for our little gallery.  The customers liked it, the stylists liked it and I never heard a complaint.  We decided we would do the same thing next year.

A few months later, the local artists community organization sponsored their annual event called "open studios."  Every participating artist put one piece up at the organization's gallery as a token of their work and then held a show at their own studio.  My business offered to host three artists plus myself since we did not have studios to exhibit in.  Two of us had nude works along with non-nudes to show.  I was in charge of hanging all the work which took seven hours.

Lines to Her Heart
The next day I came in and all the nude works were down and a few pieces were haphazardly shifted so that the whole flow of the exhibit was ruined.  I was fucking furious.  I went to my partners and asked,"What the fuck did you do?"

The stylist partner said a couple of the other stylists complained about the nudes and she felt they were not appropriate pieces.  I countered with the fact that the nudes were less risque than the ones we had at the Valentine's exhibit and they had no problems with them.  She then said, "Yeah, but that was a special Valentine's show.  This show is supposed to be about the local art community.  We don't want to offend our staff and customers."  I asked who complained and she would not tell me.

I was so mad at her for undoing my area of ownership and responsibility  at her whim.  I never told her how to run the salon,  how dare she change my work without consulting with me first.  I told her all that.  She said  she had to work there all day and did not want to have to deal with comments.  What comments?  At that moment, I knew the partnership was mortally wounded.  I told her that I relinquished all artistic choice for future shows and would only hang work and sell art.  She said that wasn't fair.

Just typing all this makes me mad about it again.  This time though it makes me mad that the belief by her and others was nude art is only acceptable around a holiday that celebrates erotic love.  Once again, nudity equals sex.

Look at the photo I posted of Candace Nirvana yesterday titled Holding the Moment.  Candace is beautiful.  She is nude.  That photo is not erotic.  It is actually tough for me to look at and I love it for that.  I feel pain when I see it.

Dali and Nirvana 4
With all that bitching out now, I have to share a glimmer of hope.  I've talked about the photography classes I took at the local public community college.  In the studio course, a number of photographers experimented working with nude models.  I had the honor of having the photo of Candace below titled Dali and Nirvana 4 hung in the department's gallery and then in the college library's gallery, where it is currently exhibited.  I am proud to have my name and the title on a little card stuck under it.  I am proud of that little college and its acceptance of nudity and art.


Photo note - I feel this photo from the Dali and Nirvana series is erotic and is art.  I doubt my former partner would have wanted that one hanging in our business either.  The nude photos I wanted to exhibit, but were removed, are the two above - Lines to Her Heart, and The Quiet Times.

3.26.2010

Photo Fermata

Holding the Moment


Welcome
Mission of this new(ish) blog:
I strive to be the artist I am.  This blog is one of my outlets to share my thoughts, creations, fears, education and stories of making art.  It may be selfish, but this is my blog to help me become a better artist and I hope you will find something of value along the way.

The shift from the S7S.  
I think the old blog was getting a bit stale and had lost its focus.  I rambled about whatever and not as much about what was important to my art.  I wrote about my sexual longing and issues, art, work, my truck, politics and everything that popped into my head.  This blog may have some of that, but not as much.  It is time to move on and not dwell on so many things I can not change or am too lazy to try.


The Fermata Symbol

Photo Fermata
Deja vu, momentary lapse, tuning out, zoning out, in the zone.  We all feel life pause or hold onto the second we are in longer than usual.

When I played in symphonies and bands, the fermata would make us stop going on in the music and continue playing the note we were on.  When we saw the note with the fermata above it, we would look up to the director and watch him or her for the signal to stop that note and continue onto the next note in the original tempo.  We were told that the fermata's duration was at the discretion of the director as to shape the music.  We could not stop the fermata.  If the conductor keeled over, the note would go on.  That is the control of the conductor at that moment.

Many other groups of musicians play fermatas.  Have you ever watched a jazz or rock band hold a note until one of the musicians makes a movement and the either they go on or they end the song?  That is a fermata.

Every photo is a fermata.  For the duration of the shutter, every bit of information carried into the camera through light particles freezes into a solitary moment on the film or sensor.  Sometimes the subject is frozen in place and other times it appears as a motion blur.  The image though captures all that as if it was time put on hold.   Even though a fast moving subject may be frozen in time, the viewer knows that it was moving and continued moving after photo was taken, just like music.

 Blue Angel 5  600+mph
Photo by Karl

The earliest experience most of us have with the photo fermata is when the school portrait photographer said told us to look at the camera and say "cheeeeeeeeese."  Each of those photos is us holding that "eeeeeeee" sound for the length of time the photographer felt was needed to get the correct exposure.

Fire Dancer - Burning Man

As a photographer, and a begrudging subject/model, I've grown to know the roles in the art.  The model and subject fill the screen with what is needed.  All the roles are crucial to the success of the photo, but it is the photographer who decides how to take the photo.  *To paraphrase Richard Avedon when talking about the model/photographer/subject,  "You are very important and I could not do this with out you, but I am in control."

I think all art is about control - the encounter between control and the uncontrollable. - Richard Avedon 

 My photographic artistic purpose then is to make that held moment important enough to capture and share.  It may only be important to me, but that is important enough to take it.  This blog is dedicated to those captured visual holds or fermatas.

Special thanks to my blog world friends for your support during the remodel.  A special nod to Joe and his blog, Improvisations, for giving me the idea of connecting music to photography.

3.24.2010

Hold

The Sensual 7 Seconds (S7S) was a great blog for me.  I learned  much about myself, my art, and my world by writing it and reading the comments.  It made me grow beyond it.

The S7S started in a sexually, emotionally, and artistically  frustrating time for me.  My relationships with everyone close to me were strained, my art was stalled, and I was panicking over turning 40.  Most of those have passed and those that haven't are either never going to go away or are being accepted.  My life is not peachy, but I am accepting it better now.

I am creating a new blog, with the same address.  This blog is shifting focus to a new theme, feel, and drive. It will have some of the same basic things as the old S7S, but with out as many frustrated hormones driving it.

My new blog is not a promise to be better than the old one, just a progression or evolution of who I am now compared to then.  It will hopefully be better for me.

I heard a great interview with an author who just wrote a biography on Mark Twain.  Part of Twain's journey west was an effort to reinvent himself from being Samuel Clemens.  Part of the beauty of the internet and the "pixel forest" (great term Dr. L.) is that it is easy to reinvent (or at least re-imagine) myself.  The one rule is to be true myself through it.

In the interview, the author talked about the Twain's need to completely rid himself of all old friends, acquaintances, and contacts who knew him as Clemens.  If he didn't do it, then he would not wholly become Twain.  I was wondering the same thing for this blog.

I have no plan to push away those who have followed the S7S for so long.  My conundrum though is should I create a whole new blog, new address, everything, with nothing but a link on the side bar to the S7S, or just create changing the name and start it on the next post of the old blog.  Unfortunately, I can not create a new blog fresh from the past without losing my blog friends and followers.

The other potential source of pain is losing the readers I have with the changes.  I always have a hard time seeing a favorite tv actor in a different show than the one that I was introduced to him or her.  I would have a hard time seeing Alan Alda in a tv series other than MASH.

Maybe the reality with that is the same as artistic output.  Any artist who pushes themselves to create what is important to them will go into areas that their prior audience may not like.  Creating the art is the important thing and whether or not there exists anyone to appreciate it is a risk, but is also a part of creating art.

So, to all who read this.  I hope you find something in this new thing.  Some will be familiar, some will be new, and some will contradict what I have shared in S7S.  I hope you will hang on with me, but if not, I wish you well and I understand.

See you soon with the new.

3.15.2010

Empty Again in Wise Poverty - Sabbatical


 "Time, time, time, see what's become of me"
Hazy Shade of Winter - Paul Simon

 The Lucky Poor 

A beech tree in winter, white
Intricacies unconcealed
Against sky blue and billowed

Clouds, carries in his emptiness
Ripeness: sap ready to rise
On signal, buds alert to burst
To leaf. And then after a season
Of summer a lean ring to remember
The lush fulfilled promises.
Empty again in wise poverty
That let's the reaching branches stretch
A millimetre more towards heaven,
The bole expand ever so slightly
And push roots into the firm
Foundation, lucky to be leafless:
Deciduous reminder to let it go
- Eugene Peterson
It is time to do the spring cleaning in all parts of my world.  The backyard is a mess.  The dust bunnies have multiplied out of control under our bed.  The back porch needs to be painted.  My garage studio needs to come down.  My spirit needs to be purged of the cobwebs that catch useless things floating about in my existence.  It is time to reboot myself, not in a formal religious cleansing of grace, but a deep scrub of who I am and until it is raw and allowed to heal in the open air.  It is time to be Empty again in Wise Poverty.

A few posts ago I mentioned this blog needs a restart, reboot, renovation, or just a simple removal.  I am going to be on break for a bit.  It is time to revamp this old blog by painting the walls, hanging new art, and sprucing up the window treatments.  It is also time to take all the photos down as clickable links to enlarged images.  I need to protect my photos.  Thanks to Dr. L, Alex, and Stephen for that tip.

While I am away on sabbatical, check out the great blogs listed on the right side of this page.  You can also mine my old posts for a few juicy nuggets.  I may post an update or image every once in a while during the break, but I need to renovate and protect this blog and myself.

If I spent an average of thirty minutes for each of the 330 posts, then I've dedicated about 165 hours of writing and many more to getting images ready.  With all that work I put into this baby, I really need to take better care of it so that both you and I get what we need out of it.  For me, a chance to voice my thoughts, ideas, feelings, emotions, experiences, and desires .  For you, hopefully you will find something interesting, humorous, arousing, inspiring, thought provoking, arousing (I really like that word), or just pretty to look at.

To all my blog readers out there, please share the title from one or some of your favorite posts from this blog via the comments section.  I will update this post with links to them.  For blog authors, please feel free to put a link to your site, blog, MM profile, or whatever you feel should be linked to via the comments section.  I will also update this post with those active links.

Greatest hits as requested by readers/bloggers
Proust Questionnaires
Rome
Men Take the Light
Galicia
Hasta luego mi amigos. 

Sing me out Simon and Garfunkel


Hazy Shade of Winter
Time, time, time, see what's become of me
While I looked around
For my possibilities
I was so hard to please
But look around, leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Hear the salvation army band
Down by the riverside, it's bound to be a better ride
Than what you've got planned
Carry your cup in your hand
And look around, leaves are brown now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Hang on to your hopes, my friend
That's an easy thing to say, but if your hope should pass away
It's simply pretend
That you can build them again
Look around, the grass is high
The fields are ripe, it's the springtime of my life

Ahhh, seasons change with the scenery
Weaving time in a tapestry
Won't you stop and remember me
At any convenient time
Funny how my memory slips while looking over manuscripts
Of unpublished rhyme
Drinking my vodka and lime

I look around, leaves are brown now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Look around, leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground...

Look around, leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground...

Look around, leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground... 




One more thing... I am not taking a break from reading my favorite blogs.  I need to read those now more than ever.  They help guide me in ways that are hard to describe.

3.14.2010

Getting to Know You... Mrs


One of the first blogs I started following was Any Fucking Day.  I could spend all day praising its quality writing and photography.  Both are deeply personal and deeply... deep.  Both can be said for the two creators of it, Z and Mrs.

They are a married couple living in a small US city in the east.  If you read it for awhile, you get to know the two creators as intensely private (for very legitimate reasons) observers and thinkers.  They are a unique team.  Z writes, publishes books, and photographs.  Mrs models and provides a complex presence to the writing, images, and overall existence of the blog .   Together, they make an interesting balance of passion, love, pain, happiness, frustration,  and lust as they work together to create art.

Mrs has always been an intelligent, beautiful, erotic and strong-willed enigma for me as I've followed this excellent blog. While it is easy to recognize Z's influence on the blog through his writing and images he shares, it is a deeply rewarding endeavor to get to know and feel Mrs' aesthetic breath shared in the life of their art.  Through her modeling, mood and visceral presence in every post, I feel their collaboration become a complex mosaic of two very strong minds.


Mrs' modeling is complex.  The first thing I noticed was her erotic beauty of course, but after seeing her modeling in so many different environs, you can feel the silent solitude and private world these two artists share.  You can also sense her emotions, feelings and beliefs, though appearing subtle, are strong and formidable.  Through Z's writing and these images you get to appreciate their never-easy, but damn rewarding, relationship filled with every lustful, creative reward and challenge thrown at them.

I was both honored and excited when Z emailed me telling me Mrs wanted to answer my questionnaire.  I feel it is like getting to touch a rich abstraction that I've started to know through digesting and reflecting on all of their photos and writing.





Here are Mrs' answers to my questionnaire.  I love her direct answers and appreciate her sharing a bit of herself here.

  1. What is your favorite word? Amsterdam
  2. What is your least favorite word? Networking
  3. What turns you on? horses
  4. What turns you off? crowds
  5. What sound or noise do you love? a far away train whistle
  6. What sound or noise do you hate? motorcycle
  7. What is your favorite curse word? fucking asshole
  8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? thoroughbred horse industry
  9. What profession would you not like to do? sales
  10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the
  11. Pearly Gates? You can return to earth and this time you can have your horse.
  12. What is your idea of perfect happiness? life on a small farm with horses and dogs
  13. What is your greatest fear? death of loved one
  14. Which historical figure do you most identify with? hmmm?
  15. Which living person do you most admire? Barack Obama
  16. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? fear
  17. What is the trait you most deplore in others? self - admiration
  18. What is your greatest extravagance? I once spent way too much on a pair of shoes
  19. On what occasion do you lie? sick days 
  20. What do you dislike most about your appearance? my scowl
  21. When and where were you happiest? on vacations
  22. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? I wish I had the courage not to care what others think
  23. If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be? I always wanted a brother
  24. What do you consider your greatest achievement? my marriage
  25. What is your most treasured possession? our cabin
  26. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? serious illness
  27. Who are your heroes in real life? people whose life work is to make the world better for everyone
  28. What is it that you most dislike? self-centeredness
  29. How would you like to die? with gratitude
  30. What is your motto? I hate mottos
Any Fucking Day is a private blog.  Contact Z at mycapote@gmail.com to request an invitation if you are interested in learning more about it.

3.13.2010

The Nature of the Beast


 Menage a...

Last night I wrote a long post about the rights of the models and the subjects of photos.  I was in a pretty defensive mood and felt undervalued as a photographer when I wrote it.  This morning I was very enthused to see Dr. L had left two great comments.  Both were very enlightening.

When I look at glamor and celebrity (not paparazzi) photography, I know the purposes of the images are about the person and/or what they are wearing.  The photographer is usually the silent partner in the final image and is rarely given credit to the photographer.  The reader of the magazine turns the page or the driver passes the billboard never knowing, needing to know, or caring about who took that photo.  Any photographer in that line of work knows their name will not be known outside the industry, but will be known inside by the media companies, models, and other photographers.  That is the nature of the beast of glam/fashion/celebrity photography. 

On rare occasions, media companies will hire big named photographers like Annie Leibovitz, Richard Avedon  or Dan Winters to create fashion and/or celebrity images.  In those instances, it is the media company's desire to leverage the names of the products, celebrities and photographer.  If they can hire all that talent, it would be foolish not to use all the names.  It is the nature of that beast.

When art models work with photographers, the balance is very complicated.  I've been blessed to work with Candace Nirvana and Leila Swan.  They are two very different models.  Candace's work celebrates the beauty and subtle eroticism of the female form.  Leila's work has a much more explicit erotic touch.  It is what makes them unique in their industry.

Both Candace and Leila have much bigger names in the industry than I do and I felt honored by their modeling for me.  In both cases I payed them a fair fee which I was happy to do.  I knew I was working with professionals that would work hard with me to create the best we could together.  They both also had more to lose if I took lousy images of them.  As you can guess, I do have a few bad images of them.  The lighting and composition was poor, they were just about to sneeze and their eyes were half closed, or a range of other mishaps occurred in that moment.  I deleted them because it would hurt all of our reputations if I let them out.  Since they are better known and searched for more often, they have more to lose.  Along those lines, I always give the models I work with digital copies of our work for their own promotional needs.  Since I am a small fish, their name helps build my reputation.

If my last name was Weston and I came from that great lineage, I would probably have the recognized name.  I would need to make sure every image I put out in my name was as good or better than my previous work.  So much of my business and reputation relies on keeping the name, the brand, and the quality up.  I am sure many models would want to work for me due to these high standards and to help beef up their resumes and portfolios.  In those cases  I would allow them to use the images for self-promotion, but would need to keep a tight control on other uses of the image.  It is already too easy to steal others' work on the internet.

This balance of model and photographer name value needs to be considered to protect both parties.  Even though I am a artistic nude neophyte, I need to protect my reputation.  I hope the models I work with will respect that and also protect theirs as well.  That is why I would never sleep with a model or break comfort boundaries when working with them.  We may want to push the boundaries a little to see what edge we can create, but in a safe environment.  I admit that I can get aroused during a session, but I also get deeply engrossed in the moment, the light and the image.  It all has to balance out for the art.

Sadly though too many amateur photographers out there are GWCs, guys with cameras.  They are there to get "hot pics of smokin' babes."  I admit that I like the voyeuristic feel of being behind a camera, but my intent goes a bit further.  Too bad though so many gwc's are fucking it up for us decent amateur photographers, but I guess that is the nature of the beast.

While reading Dr. L and Alex's post I was trying to find another professional relationship to compare it to.  One I can think of is the relationship of the chef and the wait staff.  The chef is the artist creating the culinary marvels.  The challenge though is to create the marvels the customers want and that they feel they want to make.  The wait staff is the special liason between the customers and the chef.  The customers do not get to see the chef or talk to her since that is the job of the waiter.  The waiter though must be skilled in knowing the food, what to suggest for the varying palettes, pairing everything with the right wine, and ensuring the flow of the kitchen to the table is paced perfectly.  Both are crucial to making the dinner perfect through a deep symbiotic relationship.  The chef gets the notoriety and the waiter gets the tips.  Neither really expect to receive the others' rewards.    It is the nature of that beast.

I am not sure if the photographer is the waiter or the chef as with the model.  Maybe they are not completely analogous, but I like the example since it shows the true symbiotic relationship for success.  The rewards for both are very different, but that is nature of the beast.

I have not had the privilege to be requested by an art model to photograph their concept and then work with them directing the session.  I was asked by one model to photograph her nude while she held animal entrails.  She wanted to make a statement about pornography and being a piece of meat.  Sadly though she had a family tragedy that took her out of the area and we never got past the concept stage.

In that type of relationship between model and photographer, I would probably download my images to her computer, sign a contract, take my fee and hope she sends me some samples of our work.  In my mind she would own the copyright to those images.  Sadly though, this is a beast that has no nature because I doubt I will have that opportunity again.

In the end, all of these relationships have been defined by the nature of the beasts we work with.  Usually one of the participants, the photographer, model or agency, has the power and leverage.  While we may try to protect ourselves and our name, we can't control it all.  The best we can hope for is that all parties communicate their needs and desires up front and then respect each other after the moment is over.


PS - Tomorrow we are in for a special treat as a surprise guest to this blog answers the questionnaire.  I feel it is a major coup to introduce this fine person...

Part 1 - The Rights of the Model Part 2 - The Rights of Subjects?


 My Little Lady

Very interesting series of posts written by Dr. L and Alex over at What We Saw Today concerning the rights of the model and the acknowledgment they deserve.  While I think both parties need to be fairly acknowledged, will this push move beyond models?

Part 1 

Without the hard work and gifts of the models I've worked with, my photos would be nothing.  I greatly appreciate them and give them the credit I can.  Along with paying their modeling fees, I also send them a cd with the images I find good enough for their own promotional use.  If I ever make a great amount of money off of an image, I will share a fair portion with the model since we made the art

As I wrote in my comments to one of the posts, 
"While sharing the credit for the contributions of both the model and photographer to the final piece is crucial, it must also be decided upon before the art is created. Both sides need to stop making assumptions on where the credit of the creativity belongs. It is important to decide these issues in the planning discussions before the first click of the camera shutter."

Two of the models I've worked with have specified in writing in the model release they want to know where I will exhibit, post or publish any images of the images they appear in.  Neither stated they would limit the usage of the images, just wanted awareness of their placement.  I've always honored their requests because it was the right thing to do and was in the contract.  One thing I suggest to all models and photographers is to make these decisions before the shoot, not after.  To be honest, I would be upset if a model wanted to add restricting or additional rights sharing clauses after the photo shoot.  That is why I will from now on send future models I work with my model release before the session so we can negotiate language changes.

Alex made an interesting comment about painting versus photographing a model.
Let's go back to the world of photography. Most nude photographers regard themselves as artists, and indeed they are, but photography is a very different art form from painting or sculpting. It really relies heavily on the active participation of another person, the model - unless of course the photographer only shoots landscapes or objects or is a street photographer, shooting subjects rather than models.

The input of the model is much more significantly tangible in an art photograph than it is in a painting. The photographic model has every right to be acknowledged, i.e., named. And yes, s/he should be entitled to share the copyright of the image and have rights to its reproduction. All sorts of restrictions can be put in place, of course, so that the image is not further processed or manipulated by anyone else once it is finalised, but share of copyright simply means that the authorship is shared.
There is a part of this I agree with concerning the art model's role in creating the image.  To paraphrase my statement above, my photographs with models would be empty without them and have no meaning or purpose.  They added crucial and very necessary contributions to the shared creation of those pieces

I am not sure how I feel about some of the subtle subtext in this statement that I am reading into it. This statement makes me think that Alex has a different opinion on the artistic contribution, creativity and role of the photographer in creating an image compared to a painter or sculptor.  I could photograph a nude and make a beautiful print of it or I could create a painting from the image, yet it feels like I am judged more as an artist by picking up the brush, not loading the image into the enlarger.  Maybe I am being defensive, but I feel the battle for recognition of photographer as artist is still not over.  Is it because of the ultra-realism of photography? 

I have a question about the rights of models who work with painters and sculptors.  What if a painter created a piece that was nothing like the model posed for, but was a graphic sexually explicit crotch shot painting with the model's face clearly visible and identifiable.  Does the model have a right to recourse?  I think the painter broke the trust of the relationship, but since the artist created a visual moment that did not exist, what can the model do?


Part 2
"... It really relies heavily on the active participation of another person, the model - unless of course the photographer only shoots landscapes or objects or is a street photographer, shooting subjects rather than models."  Alex from What We Saw Today
With the recent technology enabling everybody to take photos, people are taking more snaps of everything, everywhere, at all times.  Will subjects (or the owners of) soon be demanding profits and rights for the images?

I found this page at the National Park Service website about photography permits for professional photographers.  I can understand wanting a permit system if the park will have to provide extra personnel and/or will need to clean up or fix things after a photo shoot.  I am troubled that I  need to get the permit even if I am not requiring any more park resources compared to amateur photographers.  What is interesting that painters do not need these permits.

The most disturbing line (to me) at the website is:
In addition, the National Park Service has been directed by Congress to collect a fee to provide a fair return to the United States for the use of park lands.
I may be getting paranoid and probably will need to move back to Montana and live in the middle of nowhere worrying about black helicopters, but I am starting to think everybody is going to want a cut on anything produced by anybody.  Will there be a time when I will either have to pay a fee to San Francisco for photographing the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, or Coit Tower because I may make money with them?  Will I have to pay Yosemite National Park royalties on images of Half Dome that I sell?

At this point I have to ask, will painters, poets, sculptors, musicians, mixed media artists have to go through the same hoops?

3.09.2010

Getting to know you... um... I mean me.

 41

To paraphrase the Beatles, "I heard it was my birthday."  41.  It is a quiet birthday filled with warm wishes from many friends.  Thanks to all in blog world and Facebook who sent birthday messages.  I also want to thank UL from What We Saw Today for her birthday wishes on that fine blog.

Candace - 030910
A birthday gift to me with this photo... I love it

In honor of me, (feels kind of selfish, but its my birthday so I don't feel too bad)  here are my answers to my questionnaire. 
    1. What is your favorite word? Sensual
    2. What is your least favorite word? Hopeless
    3. What turns you on? Getting to use all five senses.
    4. What turns you off? Arrogance - nobody is that good.
    5. What sound or noise do you love? A romantic moan or the wind rushing through trees. They are equal. Interesting how both involve the movement of air in a special way.
    6. What sound or noise do you hate? Mosquito buzzing by my ear while trying to sleep in my tent.
    7. What is your favorite curse word? Ah fuck me...
    8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Photography teacher
    9. What profession would you not like to do? Crime scene clean up.
    10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? "Surprised?"
    11. What is your idea of perfect happiness? A simple trip (anywhere in the world) with a sensual beauty who loves being on both sides of a camera.
    12. What is your greatest fear? Not doing what I need to do in this life.
    13. Which historical figure do you most identify with? The composer Percy Granger. Everybody thought one thing about him based on his public life, but he lived a completely separate one in private.
    14. Which living person do you most admire? Virgin empire founder, Richard Branson. He has grabbed life by the balls and is living a rich life that is pretty damn responsible as well.
    15. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Starting too many things and not finishing enough of them.
    16. What is the trait you most deplore in others? People who only see complex issues in black and white or right and wrong.
    17. What is your greatest extravagance? Cameras, a Hasselblad and a Nikon D700 and all their peripheral equipment are my latest ones, but I do use them heavily.
    18. On what occasion do you lie? When it would spare someone's feelings or when the lie will not hurt anyone and is more expedient than dealing with the truth.
    19. What do you dislike most about your appearance? I am not fixated on it too much, maybe a little less weight, a little more hair... actually I would like a better wardrobe.
    20. When and where were you happiest? Watching the aurora borealis outside of my Billings, MT home when I was a kid. They usually appeared early on the coldest mornings. My mom would wake everyone up to go see them. The silence of them dancing in the northern sky with their green shimmers still gives me peace.
    21. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? I'd be a bit more determined on the harder things.
    22. If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be? Instilling the desire to go for it and to appreciate that desire in others.
    23. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Haven't created it yet and don't give a damn if I do. Once you have created that, what else is there to do with life.
    24. If you died and came back as a person or thing what do you think it would be? As either a woman or a tree in a park. Both would give me enlightenment on what life means.
    25. What is your most treasured possession? My senses.
    26. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Hopelessness induced by other humans.
    27. Who are your heroes in real life? Dr. L, Z, Mrs, Joe, Beth, Terrell, my wife, and Renee.
    28. What is it that you most dislike? Having to entertain large groups that I don't really have an interest in for multiple days.
    29. How would you like to die? Without knowing it happened.
    30. What is your motto? Heh... how about that. (As a statement, not a questions). NOTE I typed this a few weeks ago. Since that time, my new motto is, "In 100 years there will be all new people." We need to live our lives with keeping that in mind.

3.06.2010

The Big Sky State

Evening in Lavina, MT
Alpha

I was not born there, but I grew up there not far from where this photo was taken.

I've been in correspondence with Joe from What We Saw Today.  We both shared some memories of Montana and places we both visited.  It got me to thinking of the Big Sky State.

I have just about every emotion and feeling for that state.  I love it, hate it, fear it, miss it, adore it, envy it, lust for it, and have been hurt by it.  These feelings are for both the people and the land.

I am in love with Montana . . . Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans."    Norman Maclean - A River Runs Through It
Here are a few of my photos of it. 

Top of the World


My Life
Duck Lake Road - Rocky Mountain Front - Montana
Evening at Many Glacier - Glacier National Park


 
Sunset on the Cold Yellowstone


Dusk and Seeley Swan Range


Bear Grass - Glacier National Park



Logan Pass - Glacier National Park


A Little Too Comfortable with People - Marmot


 
Glacial Grandeur

  
Evening in Lavina Fading to Black
Omega


3.04.2010

Jumped the Shark

The Fonz
Happy Days was a great show that I watched every week as a kid.  In one episode the Fonz jumped a shark while water skiing.  Many felt the show went down hill after that.  From that episode, a new term in TV was invented, jumping the shark.

Jumping the shark is the episode when a tv series turns from being great toward its grave.  We all see it and recognize it either when it happens or reflecting back after the series has ended.  These downturns can include cast changes, stupid plot lines, gimmicks, old jokes, clip shows, or many other lousy tricks.



I am a big Battlestar Galactica fan (the new series).  Even with that great series, which I feel was always good and ended at the right time, it jumped a shark.  For those BSG fans, the moment came for me during the first episode of the third season.  For many reasons, that episode dimmed the show's greatness and never recovered.

With all that said, I've been rereading my old posts and reflecting on them.  I am not sure if this old boat named The Sensual Seven Seconds, has passed its glory days.  As of late, I've felt it has lost its edge, edginess, grit, purpose, and way.

After rereading all of my posts, the only recent articles I believe have merit are the Proust Questionnaires and my Rome travelogues.  These hold up well due to the gift of others who share a bit of their life with the readers and me or because Rome felt fresh and new to me and gave me a kick in the ass.  My last post that I feel pride about was titled, Yeah, You Have One, But Do You Own it.  It had an energy and punch that I liked and don't see much of in my recent posts. 

In the book, Art and Fear by David Boyles and Ted Orland, they write:
"In essence, art lies embedded in the conceptual leap between pieces, not in the pieces themselves.  And simply put, there's a greater conceptual jump from one work of art to the next than from one work of craft to the next.  The net result is that art is less polished - but more innovative - than craft."
"... yet curiously, the progression of most artist's work over time is a progression from art toward craft"

"At any point along that path, your job as an artist is to push the craft to the limit - without being trapped by it.  The trap is perfection: unless your work continually generates new and unresolved issues, there's no reason for your next work to be any different from the last."
"For you, the artist, craft is the vehicle for expressing your vision.  Craft is the visible edge of art."

I see my problems with my blog come from three areas, complacency, cowardice, and indecisiveness.

Complacency
I've written over three hundred posts.   I have it down to a craft.  I know what usually gets good comments and write those things.  I show the occasional nude photos from my few sessions with models.  I include a music video and then maybe a photo note.  What a great recipe or crafted item.

In the beginning, I didn't know where this blog was going.  Everyday I went after a new shiny object to write about and explore.  Some were bad, some were good, and some were my best.  I explored many topics: suicide,  sleep, Shakespeare, multiple areas of sensuality and sex, and movies.  It was fun and new.  I had a whole world to write about and see what I liked.
"As the Zen proverb suggests, for the beginner there are many paths, for the advanced, few." 
The blog is a relationship between me, my writing art and craft, and my audience that makes an interesting menage a troi.  Like any erotic, sensual, and/or passionate relationship, the members become complacent and assume the other will always be there.  The passionate spark during the intercourse of writing and photographing (me) and the reading and consuming my posts (you) dims over time.  I began to expect your comments on my posts and you knew what type of mood I was in, how my work and home life was going, my limited number of models I worked with, and most of my sexual/sensual tastes.  That spark is probably dimming for you and I don't feel it much either for what I write and publish.  I've become complacent in my posts.

Indecisiveness

What am I going to do with my life?  What should I photograph?  Do I dare go there?  What will they think?  Should I follow my passions deeply and completely or safely from the edge while I earn a good salary?? (which leads to)

Cowardice

All of my readers who share comments are fellow bloggers.  Most of you are following your deep passions completely.  I am not, I am playing with them, teasing them, but not committing to them.

I had a failed business.  One of the reasons it failed was that I could not go balls deep.  That is my crude way of saying that I was not all in and committed to it.  I didn't make that commitment for two reasons, I didn't love or care about the business I was in and also I was a coward and afraid to make a commitment to make it work.

I am afraid to make the big leap.  I am afraid to put my true self out there out of fear of rejection or even worse, nobody even noticing or caring.

I am embarrassed by my cowardice in that I haven't photographed a nude model since July 2, 2009 because I am too afraid to do it.  While local support for my photographing nudes has been grudgingly given, the nuisance and extreme effort and toll of doing it does not feel worth it.  I miss doing it.

I am afraid of taking this blog into something new that may alienate my small audience and lose the friends I have here.  On the other hand, I think I am going to lose you all due to the weakness of the content I produce.
After the harvest, almost time to go

Whatcha Going to do About it Big Boy??

Here are my options -
  1. End this blog with a simple good bye and thanks, archive it for future book or essays I can pull out quickly and then don't look back.  Maybe blogging was a needed phase for me and now I need to move into other outlets.
  2. #1 but also start a new blog.  Get rid of this habitual form of craft and find a new venue that is not burdened by the old.
  3. Think of this blog as a building in need of a restoration and new interior.  Reinvent it, evolve it, and find new inspirations.  Try to find my passion and artistic reason to change it from a craft back to art.
I am not sure which way I am going to go.  I know I need to choose soon though.  I can feel the need to do something about this in my bones.



Pretty good song summing it up.

3.03.2010

Escape Around Alcatraz

 WEST 030310

I am not in a writin' mood, but I want to share a few photo.  These photos are from my bus ride into work this morning.  We are living through an el niño year in California ,which means lots of rain.  In the first photo you can see the edge of the storm in the distance, past the Golden Gate Bridge.

Alcatraz is in the middle of both of these photos, just from 90 degree different views.  It kind of looks small.  I bet it felt small living on it.

North 030310

Bob Dylan and Paul Simon - The Sound of Silence, Live

Interesting to hear Paul try to harmonize with someone other than Art.  This version has a great country depressing sound thanks to Bob.


Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turn my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools," said I, "you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound of silence

3.01.2010

A Pic for Z, a Prime Number and One for Indulgence

 
Katie 030110

Prime Number
I am almost an Ides of March babe which means I am staring at 41 soon.  Forty-one is a prime number, for what that is worth.

I tend to get quieter around my birthday due to the surge of reflective moods around me.  These moods and thoughts tend to fall into one, some or all of the following categories : Where did all the time go?  What should I change?  Keep the same?" "When?" "Why?" "How?"

Visual Indulgences
I've seen a few strippers in my life.  I had a bachelor party at a club.  During college I drove tour buses for a living.  Sometimes these trips including taking bachelor or fraternity parties to a strip club.  I enjoyed those work trips because the bar gave me all the free soft drinks I wanted.  I usually stayed toward the back in a booth or played pool with the off-duty dancers.  Those were low-key events where both of us enjoyed shooting pool and talking about college and life. (One warning, most strippers are excellent pool players since they get a lot of time to practice between sets.)  I stopped  going to strip clubs about a dozen years ago.  By that time I felt I had seen almost everything and it was getting old and redundant.
 
In honor of the athleticism of the Olympics and to tickle my base desires, I am posting a video of the 2009 Pole Dancing contest.  Don't worry, there isn't any nudity.  These performers are top-notch athletes and dancers.  They are graceful, strong, seductive and deserve some accolades for what they do.  If you have ever danced, trained in gymnastics, or even tried to do a pull up/ chin up, you should appreciate the amount of training these women put in.  It is like watching a sensual Cirque du Soliel performance. I am not going to try to analyze the misogynistic industry or the objectification of women promoted through this video.  My eyes just need a break.

After watching it again I don't feel the deep arousal as much as just jaw-dropping awe of "How do they do that?."  Ok, I have to be honest, there is still a bit of arousal.

 
.